Tina Chan - imperfect

Jaiden and Chelsa must’ve left when she wasn’t paying attention because when Kristi finally gathered herself together, they were gone.

“Are you alright?” Chelsa asked Kristi. “You seem kind of withdrawn today.”

“I’m fine.” Except for the fact, you know, I just got a mental slap to the face this morning.

“If you say so. We’ll be reaching Milton in about an hour. Aside from food, is there anything else you can think of that we might need?”

“No.”

“Do you want to re-dye your hair?” Chelsa asked.

“Nah. The government already knows I dyed my hair, so there’s no point in re-dying it again. Actually, it would be great if we could get some dye-remover. I kind of miss my normal hair color. How many points do you have left on your slate?”

“A bit under a few hundred points.”

Kristi frowned. “Do you think we have enough to make it to Oppidum?”

“Don’t worry. Rich-kid has over five-hundred points on his slate,” Chelsa motioned towards Troop.

“You checked my points account?” Troop asked, sounding indignant.

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

“I don’t know if I should be worried or not,” Troop said in a low enough voice so that Chelsa couldn’t hear him from up front.

“I’d worry if I were you. You never know if one day she decides to buy out a store for the heck of it,” Kristi said.

Troop cracked a smile. “Was that a joke? I’ve never heard a joke from you yet.”

“That was sarcasm.”

They exchanged few words for the rest of the ride to Milton. Milton was a decent sized town with a bustling community. It was a Saturday and many residents were out and about in the center of town. Chelsa divided up the shopping list among the four of them.

“How does having lunch at The Last Supper sound?” suggested Troop.

“Have you been here before?” Chelsa said.

“Yes. The owner of The Last Supper is a member of the Company. She’s not a spy or agent; she’s more of a follower.”

“A follower?” Kristi scrunched up her nose a bit in distaste. “That makes the Revealers seem like some sort of cult…a cult I’m not sure I want to be part of.”

“The Revealers is more than just a cult. It’s an organization trying to—”

“—you sound just like your mom,” Kristi interrupted. “‘The Revealers are a group trying to bring justice to the world.’” She air quoted Tiffany’s words.

Troop contemplated her words for a few seconds, and then said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You two done talking?” Jaiden asked. “’Cause I was thinking The Last Supper would be a good place to have lunch.”

Everyone agreed to this plan and set off on completing their shopping list. Kristi looked down at her list, which consisted of: hair dye removal, two pairs of socks, liquid toothpaste and a ball of twine. She should be able to purchase everything she needed at the convenience store, which was located just a few blocks down Main Street.

She fingered the electro-slate her parents had left behind for her. Last night, she had tried and failed to break its lock. To Kristi’s delight, though, she was able to access their point account without the fingerprints of all four Naturals. Shelly and Kyle had left a hundred points on the account; it wasn’t a whole lot of points to spend, but it would be more than enough to make the necessary purchases.

Kristi located the convenience store in no time. She dismounted from Flurry and looped her reins through the metal ring of a hitching post.

“Kristi, can I have a word with you?” Jaiden came up to her before she entered Mill’s General Store.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Did you see Chelsa and me together this morning?” he asked, not bothering to sugar coat anything.

“Um, yes. I’m sorry if I trespassed your privacy. I heard your voices and decided to find you guys,” Kristi said, feeling embarrassed of having been caught behaving like a ten-year old.

“I knew I saw someone in the shadows,” Jaiden said. “You don’t mind me being with Chelsa, do you?”

“Of course not! You don’t need my permission to date someone. Chelsa’s a good friend and a nice girl. I mean, it would’ve been nice if you had given me a warning about all this though…” she trailed off.

“Appreciate your understanding,” Jaiden said, sounding reassured. “I wasn’t sure how you were going to take it.”

He left her and Kristi pushed open the door into the store. A movement caught her eyes. She stepped back outside onto the streets. Some boys were hanging out in a group nearby…but something didn’t seem quite right with the picture. Then she saw him.

“Troop, were you eavesdropping on Jaiden and me?”

Troop dropped out with trying to blend in from the other kids and confessed, “Yeah. Didn’t expect to be caught red-handed though.”

“Who do you think you are, poking your nose in my business?” Kristi said, still feeling miffed she was the last person to realize that Chelsa and Jaiden were together.

“I like to consider myself acting concerned .”

“I don’t need you to feel concerned about me. Shouldn’t you be purchasing the items on your list?”

“Already did so,” said Troop.

“That was quick.”

He shrugged. “I only needed to purchase some extra solar cell replacements.”

Kristi pushed the door into Mill’s General store with Troop tailing her. She grabbed a basket by the doorway and started thrusting items into it: some hair dye removal powder, two bottles of liquid toothpaste, a spool of twine and some socks that were on sale. Then she paid and checked the time. An hour left until twelve-thirty.

“There are some public trails in Milton if you’re up for some riding,” said Troop, holding open the door for her.

She placed the purchased goods into the saddlebag and guided Flurry to the trails after referring to a map, seeing as she had nothing better to do. Troop tagged alongside on Mist.

Kristi glanced at them. “I don’t remember inviting you to come along.”

“I invited myself.”

“I’m going to be blunt with you. I really want—no, need—some personal space, alright?” As she said those words, she realized they were true and weren’t just an excuse to get out of Troop’s presence. She needed some time to be introspective and sort out her feelings.

“Serious?”

She nodded.

“Only because I like you,” Troop said, reining Mist around to leave the trailhead.

“If only I could say the same about you,” Kristi muttered, “then life would be much easier.”

She allowed Flurry to meander along the trail at a leisurely pace while she mulled over the recent events of her life. Now that Kristi was thinking about Troop’s earlier words, she couldn’t help and be astonished by the fact that, other than the helicopter, they had seen no other physical signs of the government searching for them.

Sure, we tried to avoid going into towns if we could help it, but I know the government’s technology could easily track us down if they put them to good use, she thought.

Kristi tried to make out what she thought of Troop. Yes, he was annoying and yes, he hadn’t made a great first impression. But Chelsa believed Troop was being honest when he told them he wasn’t actually going to hurt the girl at Ludus High; he either had to be the predator or the prey, and Troop was sick of being the prey .

However, that doesn’t make his actions any more justified . Bullying is bullying, no matter what. You would think that someone who used to be bullied would understand how it feels to be constantly looking over your shoulder, instead of bullying someone else. Kristi maneuvered Flurry to the side of the trail, allowing a train of hikers to pass by.